(JNS) Jordan’s top court dissolved the country’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Jordanian official said on Thursday. “The Court of Cassation [Jordan’s Supreme Court] yesterday [Wednesday] issued a final verdict ruling that the Muslim Brotherhood group is dissolved … for failing to rectify its legal status under Jordanian law,” the official said, according to AFP. The Muslim Brotherhood is a radical Islamic organization that was founded in Egypt in 1928 and seeks to Islamize society and eventually the world. 

The movement’s spokesman in Jordan, Moaz al-Khawaldeh, told AFP that the group will defy the ruling and continue functioning. “The Brotherhood will not melt away because of an administrative ruling, and we continue to carry out our activities in alternative rental properties,” said Khawaldeh. He added that the Brotherhood intended to appeal against the ruling. However, he added that “unfortunately, the authorities have shut the doors [to negotiations] … and are not offering any initiative to solve this crisis.”

Sheikh Hamza Mansur, head of the organization’s ruling council, said, “The Muslim Brotherhood … is a model of moderation and an important element in strengthening national unity, so dissolving it is not in the national interest,” according to the report.

Jordan has let the movement function for years and in 2015 supported a splinter movement called the Muslim Brotherhood Association.

Main Photo: Jamal Abdul Nasser Circle in Amman, Jordan, in busier days before the coronavirus (COVID-19) hit. Credit: Tareq Ibrahim Hadi via Wikimedia Commons.